LEGAZPI CITY—Albay Gov. Joey Salceda hailed as a welcome development the recent approval by the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) of the P104-billion South Railway project, which is seen to unlock Bicol’s huge potential.
As Bicol Regional Development Council (RDC) chairman, Salceda had been persistently pushing for the approval of the South Railway project.
The 653-kilometer South Railway—from Manila to Legazpi City in Albay—was approved by the Neda Board, chaired by President Aquino, on February 16. It is a component of the North-South Railway master plan of the North-South Commuter Railway project, estimated at P117.3 billion, and the P170-billion North-South Railway Project.
The projects will be implemented under the public-private partnership (PPP) scheme.
Salceda said the construction of the South Railways line has long been awaited in Luzon, and is expected to further boost the economic development of the Bicol region, Albay most particularly, which has a lot of potentials to offer.
Salceda, as chairman of both RDC and the Luzon Area Development Coordinating Council, has been “working relentlessly with the PPP Center, the Department of Transportation and Communications, Neda and the Philippine National Railways to ensure that the South Railway project will
be prioritized.”
The governor said he had repeatedly “reiterated his position that the Manila-Bicol railway is critical to development, as it promotes rural tourism; empowers Bicol labor to compete in the labor markets of Metro Manila and elsewhere in Luzon; and provides a multimodal transport means for bringing agricultural products and manufactured goods of Bicol to the rest of Luzon.”
The North-South Luzon Railways plan aims to revive the Manila-Albay rail route to improve the transport and logistics services to underserved areas and promote productivity. Its blueprint was first drawn and proposed by the Bicol RDC, which Salceda chairs for the third term now.
3 comments
Good to hear this… Gov. Salceda is always a man of vision and action… Kudos to you, sir as well as to many other people behind this endeavor… I’m from Visayas yet I admire you on many aspects, from your stand against CHinese incursion in West Phil. Sea to disaster preparedness to governance…
one of the best presidentiables that will never be; well under the present circumstance of too many bobotantes in the electorate
All the other presidentiables pale in comparison with Joey Salceda. If a major party adopts Joey, then probably he will have a chance but more importantly, ensure the Philippines forward march to progress if he wins.